This fall, sought-after interdisciplinary artist Ani Liu was appointed professor of practice in the Department of Fine Arts. In this Q&A, Liu describes her experience teaching at Penn for the first time, the ways in which toys perpetuate gender norms, and her collaboration with astronauts to support mental and physical health in space.
Courtesy Monument Lab
With its new augmented-reality app, called OverTime, Monument Lab, the public art and history studio that grew out of research at the Weitzman School, is hoping to provide a more immersive way of experiencing public space. The app, which launched on March 31 with a prototype tour on the steps of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, “offers educational, self-guided tours of a public space by unearthing the multiple layers of history, meaning, and interpretation.”
In the latest issue of The New Yorker, Hua Hsu reports on the beginnings of Monument Lab, the public art and history project led by Ken Lum, Marilyn Jordan Taylor Presidential Professor and chair of fine arts, and Paul Farber, senior research scholar at the Center for Public Art and Space.
The Sachs Program for Arts Innovation at the University of Pennsylvania announced its most recent round of grants, totaling almost $270,000, in support of projects in the arts and humanities. Eleven of the 34 grants awarded were for projects involving the Weitzman School community of students, staff, and faculty. This is the third round of grants from the Sachs Program for Arts Innovation, which is supported by an endowed gift from Keith L. and Katherine Sachs.
As faculty across the Weitzman School have adapted their courses for webcams and computer screens this semester, they’ve found new ways to connect with students and make assignments meaningful.
What could you do with a 17 by 17 foot white room?
Three faculty members in the Stuart Weitzman School of Design received G. Holmes Perkins Teaching Awards for 2021, in recognition of distinguished teaching and innovation in a classroom, seminar, or studio setting. The awards are given annually in honor of G. Holmes Perkins, an architect and longtime faculty member who was dean of the School of Design from 1951–1971, and based on nominations by students. The winners will be recognized in the printed program for the School’s 2021 Commencement Webcast.
Photo Eric Sucar
Dennis Sungmin Kim, a senior in the Undergraduate Fine Arts and Design program, draws and paints by hand hundreds of illustrations to create his award-winning animated short films.
What might foods look and taste like—and what might they do to our microbiomes, bodies, and environments—in different futures? How will changing climates around the globe affect methods of food production and consumption? These are among the questions raised in ‘Designs for Different Futures,’ a major exhibition co-curated by Associate Professor of Fine Arts Orkan Telhan, which is on view this fall at the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis.
Three faculty members in the Stuart Weitzman School of Design have received G. Holmes Perkins Teaching Awards for 2020, in recognition of distinguished teaching and innovation in a classroom, seminar, or studio setting: Sean Burkholder, Sophie Debiasi Hochhäusl, and Willie Udell.
In A Wall of Our Own: An American History of the Berlin Wall (University of North Carolina Press, 2020), Paul Farber, senior research scholar at the Center for Public Art and Space, traces the history of the Berlin Wall as a site of pilgrimage for American activists, writers, and artists. In this excerpt, Farber highlights the work of sculptor Shinkichi Tajiri, whose photographs documented the renovations and social realities of the Wall.
Photo: CJ Willis/Monument Lab
Paul Farber’s colleagues now joke that he is holding his meetings atop a monument.